Residents of Newtown, Connecticut comforted each other at an interfaith vigil Sunday.

Much has been made of Adam Lanza, the 20-year-old shooter at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., who took so many innocent lives, as having Asperger Syndrome, a high functioning condition on the autism spectrum which has recently been reclassified as autism. Experts and parents who have children with Asperger Syndrome want everyone to know that there is no correlation between autism and violence and express concern that autism is a developmental disorder and NOT a mental illness. Parents of those with autism, who are already too often stigmatized in our society, are worried that this will lead to their kids being further shunned and misunderstood.

According to a Friday statement by the Autistic Self Advocacy Network: “Recent media reports have suggested that the perpetrator of this violence, Adam Lanza, may have been diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome, a diagnosis on the autism spectrum, or with another psychiatric disability. In either event, it is imperative that as we mourn the victims of this horrific tragedy that commentators and the media avoid drawing inappropriate and unfounded links between autism or other disabilities and violence. Autistic Americans and individuals with other disabilities are no more likely to commit violent crime than non-disabled people. In fact, people with disabilities of all kinds, including autism, are vastly more likely to be the victims of violent crime than the perpetrators. Should the shooter in today’s shooting prove to in fact be diagnosed on the autism spectrum or with another disability, the millions of Americans with disabilities should be no more implicated in his actions than the non-disabled population is responsible for those of non-disabled shooters.”

XIAOMEI CHEN/DMN

Dan Burns with his son, Ben, who has autism. Ben, Dan told me, changed him from a human 'doing' into a human being

Just today, I touched base with a local mom, Vicki L. Hill, who has an adult son with autism, who is thriving within a supportive network. She had this to share:

“In light of the recent tragedy in Newtown, CT, many are people are asking, “Why? What could drive a person to do something like this?” We will never truly know the answers in this particular case, given that both the shooter and his mother are now dead. But we do have some clues as to what is – and is not – involved.

The shooter’s brother identified him as being diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome. Asperger is a developmental disorder which involves impairment in social interaction as well as restricted patterns of behavior and interest. It is not at all associated with violence. The typical person with Asperger Syndrome may have difficulty with eye contact or with the typical ebb and flow of casual conversation. Some may have special interests – for example, a history buff who manages to steer every conversation back to a discussion of the Civil War, or a sports fan who knows the statistics from every game the Mavericks ever played.

The shooter’s brother also suggested that his brother may have had at least one other diagnosis which was psychiatric in nature. While the brother wasn’t as clear as to the exact diagnosis, we know that the vast majority of people with psychiatric disorders also are not violent. In fact, they are far more likely to be the victims of violence than the perpetrators. Psychiatric disorders are disorders of the brain.

Sometimes developmental disorders and psychiatric disorders overlap, as appears to have occurred in this case. But, that, too, is not associated with violence.

So what could have driven this shooter to take these actions? Some brain disorders can include episodes where the person loses touch with reality. The person can experience delusions or hallucinations. While these symptoms are treatable with medication in psychiatric patients, the very nature of these symptoms sometimes cause the person to be unaware that he is experiencing these symptoms. Think of the person with Alzheimer’s who is convinced that the year is 1972. The brain disorder itself is causing the distorted thinking. Not every episode of delusion is connected with violence, but nearly every episode of violence caused by a person with mental illness is connected to delusional thinking.

Was the shooter getting psychiatric help? We don’t know the answer to that yet. But we do know that a friend of the mother has commented that she was fearful in the days before the horrifying shooting. “She said it was getting worse. She was having trouble reaching him,” said a friend of Mrs Lanza….” [The Telegraph] Why didn’t she simply call authorities or have him hospitalized? It isn’t that simple. The shooter was 20 years old – an adult. While an observant mother could see that the situation was deteriorating, the nature of the disorder could have meant that the 20 year old didn’t see it himself. And without his permission, she was powerless to get him help. Our laws do not permit the family of an adult with a psychiatric disorder to insist on treatment or hospitalization in such cases. Only when the risk of harm to the person or to others is clear to a judge can the person be held against his will. Far too often, that risk only becomes clear after a crime has been committed.

No, Asperger Syndrome did not cause this action. A disorder causing the shooter to lose touch with reality is most likely to be behind this. Mix that with restrictive rules on intervention, as well as his access to weapons, and an individual crisis turned into a national tragedy.”